Here at Brian Joseph Studios, we manage several clients’ Facebook pages, and since Spring, we’ve noticed a stark decrease in the level of “fan” engagement and clicks on content. A search online found others experiencing the same thing, and no one really knew what was going on. It’s now clear, and here’s an example of exactly what’s happening and why:

One of our client’s Facebook pages has over 3,000 likes, yet a status update post promoting their upcoming Halloween Party was seen by only 220 people. A year ago, this same Facebook page had about 2,000 likes and every status update would receive at least 1,000 views. So, what is the explanation for such a decrease in the amount of people seeing this page’s posts? The answer is simple: Facebook needs money.

Firstly, this change in the feeds seemed to happen right around the same time Facebook filed their poorly managed IPO. Their stock performed terribly, and they were scrambling. They apparently decided it was time to up the advertising revenue at the expense of the same user base that built the website with all of its sharing activity.

Today, when you post a status update, share a picture, like a page etc., Facebook’s aggregation now limits that content’s reach to about 15% of the social circle that want that information. This isn’t limited to business pages either. Let’s say you have a big family announcement and you want to update everyone on Facebook. When you post that status update, Facebook now only shows that update to about 15% of your friends. Not good, right? Well, Facebook has a terrific way to reach everyone you thought you were reaching in the first place (and you were before this change happened): You can pay to “Promote” that update!

You spend hundreds of dollars, euros etc promoting your Facebook page in your print marketing, on your website and any other place you tell your customers to “Like Us”, and all that hard work and money spent will now only get your content in front of a meager 15% of those that have taken the time to actually “like” your Facebook page.

This recent change in Facebook’s model has changed the way we think about Facebook marketing. It’s no longer a cost efficient tool for promoting your products and services. We recommend that you always concentrate the majority of your efforts on your website and your email marketing. Both of these assets are things that you control and own. We’ve been advising our clients about this for a long time now, and Facebook’s recent moves have just cemented this even further.